The Beginning of the Aberration

Time always slips away quietly when people are not paying attention.

--For example, the common lie that humans can sleep for another five minutes.

As night fell, darkness descended silently.

After glancing at Bai Zhi, West Pavilion Gardener stepped forward, picked up the phone, and casually pressed the speakerphone button.

"Hello? Moshi Moshi, is this my beloved West Pavilion Gardener on the other end of the phone? If so, please give me a hug. If not, please pass me on. Thank you~"

As soon as the call connected, a cheerful female voice came from the other end.

"Where are you now? I'm coming to find you."

After a moment of silence, West Pavilion Gardener began to speak.

"Huh? No way! Such an insincere answer! You're definitely planning to kill me."

In a hotel room, a Young Girl with the same hair color as West Pavilion Gardener was sitting on the table with her legs crossed. After hearing the voice coming from the other end of the phone, she immediately pursed her lips.

"There's this annoying guy over there who just dug up all my secrets. I finally found such a great opportunity to get close to you, and that guy ruined it all. He's got a screw loose, doesn't he? Doesn't he know the saying, 'Better to tear down ten temples than to break up one marriage'?"

"... What exactly do you want to do?"

"Well, of course I can do whatever I want, I'm Madman, you know~"

While twirling a Key Ring on her wrist with one finger, Gelina began to speak nonchalantly.

"By the way, speaking of which, you really want this Ark Heart that I have, right? I can give it to you, but you have to agree to one condition."

"... What are the conditions?"

A moment later, West Pavilion Gardener came over the phone.

"It's very simple. You give me your stomach and your heart, and I'll give you the things. It's a fair and worthwhile deal."

Her fingers traced her cheek, and Gelina licked the blood from her fingertips, a look of ecstasy on her face.

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but I want both!"

"Well... relationships are a matter between two people, not just one. You can't force a relationship."

This time, the voice coming from the other end of the phone was a woman's voice that sounded quite conflicted.

"I just want to eat watermelon, why should I care if it's sweet or not? I like eating watermelon that isn't sweet."

With a pursed lip, Gelina Key Ring she was holding into the corner.

"Or how about something else? It seems some of you also want this Ark Heart. You help me break his arms and legs, then make him sign a master-servant contract swearing he will never leave me, and I'll give you the Ark Heart. How about that?"

"You're a Madman."

The cold voice of the West Pavilion Gardener came from the other end of the phone.

"Yes, I am a Madman, but I guess my so-called Madman has left a little place in your heart, hasn't it?"

Instead of being annoyed, Gelina asked in return with a smile.

"So tell me, did it or didn't it? You must regret letting me go back then, right?"

"That's right, I regret not killing you back then."

The voice on the other end of the phone remained cold, but Grina didn't seem to care at all; instead, her smile grew even sweeter.

"It's okay. Whatever you like, I'll destroy. Whatever you want to protect, I'll destroy. As long as I can destroy everything around you, then you'll belong to me alone..."

Before she could finish speaking, she sighed again.

"But it's a pity I'm not as strong as you. Otherwise, you would have been locked in the Basement long ago, completely belonging to me."

"... This time I won't let you get away with it."

"Whatever, just find me first and then... um?"

Glancing towards the door, feeling slightly disheartened, and with a pursed lip, Gelina began to speak.

"What a disappointment. That annoying guy's shadow is probably coming to find me soon. So let's call it a day. If you're still alive, we can talk about our business later. I have some information that none of you know... I'm really curious, how many of us will make it back safely?"

With a strange chuckle, the phone call ended.

"Don't look at me, that guy ran away again. He's pretty alert."

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Bai Zhi shrugged slightly and casually summoned a Shadow Guard.

"The Shadowkhan comes from Shendu in Jackie Chan Adventures. Do you know Shendu? He's that very powerful Demon who single-handedly overwhelmed the other seven Demons."

"... Is that guy's word credible?"

After glancing at the Shadow Guard, West Pavilion Gardener turned his gaze away and asked him a question.

"The other party possesses the Ark Heart, Ark Heart to some extent represents this world, so it's certain that she knows information we don't."

Bai Zhi looked completely indifferent.

"Just wait and see, we'll deal with whatever comes our way... By the way, how did you end up with such a severe yandere?"

"... I saved her once before, by sheer chance."

After a moment of silence, West Pavilion Gardener spoke and gave his answer.

"You're so pitiful. Yandere are the most dangerous kind of thing."

Bai Zhi shook his head, a look of relief on his face.

"Thankfully, I don't have any yanderes around me."

West Pavilion Gardener: "..."

High emotional intelligence: Having curiosity about the unknown is human nature and a stepping stone to social progress.

Low emotional intelligence: People always love to hear Eight Trigrams.

Because of Gelina's situation, Fireworks of Romance were really rife with gossip. They had only heard of the term "yandere" before, but this was the first time they had actually witnessed it.

However, it was obvious that West Pavilion Gardener did not want to talk too much about the past, so no matter how they asked, she would only change the subject and take the initiative to change the topic several times.

In reality, there's not much to do in the room right now besides gossiping and Eight Trigrams. You can't exactly get together and play Mahjong or Fight the Landlord, can you?

Although Bai Zhi did have the idea of playing Mahjong...

And so, in this kind of environment and atmosphere, time quietly slipped away.

Then, starting with a very common little thing, the real horror was finally revealed to the Players.

It was only then that Player understood what it truly meant to be... truly, truly an enemy of the world.

Each Player is provided with a suitcase by the system, containing a few changes of clothes, a large bag of Compressed Biscuits, and a dozen bottles of Mineral Water.

However, while suitcases were useful before, the world has changed so much that their function has become negligible.

Players all carry food in their Inventory, so since they don't care about being exposed, few are willing to eat those dry and hard Compressed Biscuits. Players take out the food they have prepared in their Inventory as a substitute.

Similarly, not only food and water, but also spare clothes are naturally in the Player's Inventory, so this suitcase was forgotten by most people, and Bai Zhi was no exception.

However, with the idea that getting something for free is a bonus, Bai Zhi used everything in his suitcase.

These Compressed Biscuits, with their quality and taste, are incredibly expensive online. The clothes provided by the system are both well-fitting and shapely; it's free, so why not wear them? After all, I'm quite wealthy now, and building my own Shadow World will require an unknown amount of resources, so saving every penny is good...

So he happily accepted all the other Player's unwanted suitcases.

While the other Player were eating the food they had prepared from their Inventory, Bai Zhi continued to munch on Compressed Biscuits with Mineral Water. Although the biscuits were dry and hard, they tasted really good.

Then, the cause of that series of terrifying anomalies and the book began with a muttered "Who took my chicken leg?" from the Fireworks of Romance."